House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have been playing a sick game with the anti-war movement, with the lives of US troops, and with the lives of Iraqis for some time now. They pretend that they oppose the war, yet they have made clear from the beginning that they were determined to continue the war by continuing the funding.

At a certain point, war opponents have to realize that we are being betrayed by politicians who take our votes for granted while continuing to have our young people fight and die for Halliburton, Big Oil, the Christian Right, and other corrupt Bush regime cronies.

If these pro-war Democrats cared about fighting terrorism, they would not join Bush and Cheney in aiding and abetting Al Qaeda's terrorist training and recruiting efforts by supporting the war in Iraq. Sadly, Reid, Pelosi, and most other congressional Democrats just don't care, an attitude they share with the worst of Republicans.

The Democratic Party leadership has just agreed to legislation with no enforceable conditions for Iraq war funding, much less a timetable for withdrawal. (Bush can waive “conditions” on reconstruction funding, and there are no limits on the military spending.)

Of course, the Democratic Congress has done little or nothing worthwhile on a lot of other important issues as well. According to Nancy Pelosi, impeachment of Bush and Cheney is “off the table,” just like stopping war funding. So much for the rule of law.

The “Democratic” leadership is pushing another job-destroying trade deal instead of working to repeal NAFTA and withdraw the US from the World Trade Organization. Congress has yet to take any steps to restrict handguns, much less ban them like they should. Congress has yet to even try to revoke Most Favored Trade status for China, despite their economic exploitation of the US and their economic support of genocide in Sudan. Aside from holding hearings, Congress has done nothing on Global Warming either. Dealing with climate change needs action, not hot air.

On other issues like banning Halliburton from all government contracts, increasing fuel efficiency standards, windfall enacting profits taxes for oil companies, cutting government subsidies for corporations, taxing SUVs to pay for more public transportation, and increasing OSHA safety inspectors, the proverbial crickets are chirping.

Even on hate crimes legislation for the queer community, the only action taken so far is a House vote passing a heavily watered down piece of legislation. This is similar to the distressingly low increase in the minimum wage passed by congressional Democrats. Pelosi and Reid have nibbled on the edges of a few important issues, while carrying the water for corporate interests the vast majority of the time.

Now that we know that most congressional Democrats will support the war and most other corporate interests when it really counts, there are two choices for progressives. One would be to give up on the Democratic Party and vote Green. The other alternative is for progressives to run primary challenges against war mongering corporatists to replace them with Real Democrats.

If that does not work, it is important to remember that voting for Real Greens is better than voting for fake “Democrats.”